Welcome to John Carr Outdoors!
Please visit the blog and follow. The follow button can be found at the bottom of the page.
If you are seeing this on Facebook, click the link to visit the blog to see all of the photos.
Vista Ridge
After a few days of dense wildfire smoke in Portland it was time to head to the mountains. I parked at the very rough 4,500-foot trailhead for the Vista Ridge Trail on the north side of Mt. Hood. It was a crystal-clear morning.
After hiking through an area burnt by a 2011 wildfire, I met the Timberline Trail which circles Mt. Hood. A few more steps and I was at the open meadows of Wy’east Basin. The Ladd Glacier and the summit of Mt. Hood were seemingly close enough to touch.
I began hiking east to gain a wonderful overlook of Elk Cove and the Coe Glacier. Then, following an old climbers’ trail to the south, I soon reached Dollar Lake at 6,000 feet.
This is some of prettiest alpine scenery in the Pacific Northwest.
Sitka Mountain Ash berries
Coe Glacier
Fritillary Butterfly
Dollar Lake (think silver dollar)
Monkey Flower
Pearly Everlastings and Fireweed love the wildfire scorched soil
Ladd Glacier
Red Elderberries
Hikers in Wy’east Basin admiring Mt. Adams
Trail approaching Wy’east Basin
Early morning light on the northwest side of Mt. Hood
Vista Ridge is one of our favorite hikes too! Can’t beat the triplet of Eden Park, Cairn Basin and W’yest Basin. Nice flower show in the old burn…
Thanks for the kind words. Vista Ridge is one of the best alpine hikes on Mt. Hood in my humble opinion.